THE END OF THE BOY SCOUTS IN PHILADELPHIA

NewsWithViews ^ | June 2, 2003 | Hans Zeiger

[fight_truth_decay]

Philadelphia’s Cradle of Liberty Boy Scout Council self-destructed last week. Its executive board voted unanimously to include "sexual orientation" in its nondiscrimination code. The outrageous move came after years of intense pressure from radical homosexual and atheist rights groups in the area and nationwide.

The Philadelphia Council is the third largest local council in the country, serving 87,000 boys and men. It is an unfortunate addition to a list of councils that have eagerly given the finger to the Boy Scouts of America and its associated moral codes. Last year, San Francisco and Boston became the first branches to reject the concept of “moral straightness.”

We must be reminded that the Boy Scouts are not an intolerant, homophobic, racist, anti-Semitic bunch. In fact, the Boy Scouts have always taught tolerance and have been at the forefront of celebrating diversity. Since 1911, the BSA has reached out to disabled youth, racial and ethnic minorities, Native Americans, and inner city children.

And Scouting has also taught the difference between right and wrong, between honor and indecency, between justice and perversity.

When it comes to a Scout troop, sexual orientation is an issue that goes beyond differences in skin color or economic status. It affects such matters as tenting arrangements and the development of pre-teenage masculinity in a close-knit group of boys and men. But the BSA’s position against homosexuality is not just an issue of moral principle in an effort to affirm the Scout Oath and Law, it is a serious safety effort to prevent cases of sexual abuse and harassment.

To the vast majority of Americans who understand the importance of Scouting in every community across the nation, preserving the traditional moral code of Scouting is a no-brainer. It is time for families in Philadelphia to show that they oppose the leadership of their local council by leaving the organization.

Furthermore, the BSA national office must entirely disconnect itself from the Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco Councils. And Boy Scout councils around the country must take notice that their entire mission is staked upon the moral character of the boys and men involved, and that if they sever those core principles from the program they will destroy the entirety of Scouting.

The pressures from the radical Left must be dealt with as well. As the Left has opened fire on the Scouts, the reaction of Americans has been interesting. I’ve heard some say that the Scouts don’t need to be defended because they are strong enough. Many would argue that ignoring the opposition is the best thing for the Scouts. Perhaps that would be true in a small-scale conflict, but those who lead the drive against the Scouts have proven their capacity for a dangerous perversion of morality when, in a hundred other scenarios they’ve struck deepest when decent Americans chose not to fight back. They didn’t fight back because they weren’t looking in the first place.

Now, America - now is a time to turn our sullen eyes on Philadelphia. Now is the time to awaken to the awful stench that arises from the moral relativism condoned by Boy Scout Councils in Boston and San Francisco. Now is the time to fight back and defend the Boy Scouts from further damage.

As an Eagle Scout and an assistant Scoutmaster, I cannot couch myself in the dark chamber of apathy as my organization is taken over by special interests whose political agenda contributes to a breakdown of character and the family. The Boy Scouts have the God-given right to establish standards for membership, and those standards have been highly respected for over 90 years. Citizens across America have the God-given obligation to see to it that the Boy Scout Oath and Law are upheld for another 90 years.

Hans Zeiger, 18, is an Eagle Scout and an outspoken advocate on behalf of Scouting with the Scout Honor Coalition. He is a Seattle Times columnist and chairman of Washington Young Americans for Freedom. He may be contacted at hanszeiger@yahoo.com.

[RRWCC]

Unfortunately, the risk is too great for me.

Scouting was removed from my 3 daughters activities a few years ago when the "gay" agenda began to be pushed by the GSA. I removed it from my son's potential activities last year.

My children are too important to me to allow them to be in the care of an organization that won't protect them from pedifiles and deviant lifestyles.

[RonF]

My children are too important to me to allow them to be in the care of an organization that won't protect them from pedifiles and deviant lifestyles.

How has the BSA failed to do this? I am certainly unaware of any of this kind of thing going on in my area, and I'm in a position to know even if someone's trying to hide something from the media? What local Council do you live in?

[KC_for_Freedom]

In our council in the SF Bay Area, an assistant scoutmaster informed other leaders that he would not mind accepting gay leadership in the troop. Others disagreed and that was that. However in a "liberal area" like SF, the pressure on troops by sponsors, gay rights groups, schools, and some liberal parents is very high.

I agree with you that what will happen is troops who admit openly gay leadership will find their members come from the strict liberal multiculturalist group while traditional BSA families will seek out troops who do not allow openly gay leadership. I suspect the vast majority of scout families will seek the traditional orientation.

This will also empower the athiest rights group to renew their pressure on local scout troops too. This is different as "reverent" is a scout law and an Eagle requirement. Who would have thought when I was a scout that these discussions would be so in vogue today?

BTW, after my son was awarded his Eagle Rank, we sold our Bay Area house and migrated to Alabama. I don't expect the BSA to be under much pressure in our new home state.

[RRWCC]

My oldest daughter (Now 9) was just getting involved with Scouting a few years ago when the GSA endorced the homosexual agenda. I was not then aware nor am I now aware of any problems in our local area.

My son (now 7) has never been associated with Scouting so I would be unaware if there were any problems in our local Council.

For me, there are too many fronts attacking my family for me to take on another. For now it may only be a few local areas, but just like rotten apples, the rest will probably soon fall.

I will say that I do admire the BSA for holding out and taking a stand as long as it did. I had hoped that it would continue too. If my Son never gets involved, then I won't have the problem I did with my daughter of removing him from the situation when the local Council begins to rot.

[RRWCC]

Welcome to Alabama!

[Blessed]

I don't necessarily agree with you there. I believe adult consenting homosexuals should be left alone to do what they will. I believe pedophilia is a separate and distinct problem.

I believe this is naive on your part.Homosexuals are statisticaly more likely to be child molesters than hetrosexuals.Recruiting of teenagers is considered perfectly acceptable in the culture and by their organizations.

[tdadams]

You're welcome to believe whatever fear-mongering you like. I think these assertions are silly and false generalizations.

[RonF]

I will say that I do admire the BSA for holding out and taking a stand as long as it did. I had hoped that it would continue too. If my Son never gets involved, then I won't have the problem I did with my daughter of removing him from the situation when the local Council begins to rot.

There's a significant difference between the GSUSA (the GSA is a Federal agency and the acronym is too similar to the BSA's; the GSUSA loathes the use of that acronym) and the BSA. GSUSA units are essentially "owned" by the local GSUSA Council. Whereas BSA units are "owned" by the sponsor. If your GSUSA Council is quite liberal, you could have an issue with the leaders they've approved, and you may find it difficult to get all the information you'd want about why they were selected. Whereas if your BSA Council is liberal, but your unit's sponsor is conservative, you'll not see the problem you fear.

And you should be aware of, and ideally involved with, your unit's sponsor as well as your unit. We do have some children in our unit who are from single-parent families where Mom (never Dad, eh?) has to work a bunch of hours and can't put much time into the unit. But if a family has the resources to contribute time to the unit, but refuses to do so, well, then I can do without their son.

If Americans expect the BSA to be a safe place to put their kids into without any effort on their part to ensure that it's units are, in fact, such safe places, then Americans are very foolishly putting way too much burden on the BSA. It was, is, and always will be the parent's responsibility to do this, not the BSA's. The BSA has never accepted responsibility for unit leaders' actions, and it's not starting now.

[LTCJ]

What has been found in practice is that there are people in some areas of the country who are perfectly fine with homosexuals as youth leaders, at least in the abstract

Unfortunately true.

It brings to mind the phrase, "a liberal is just a conservative who has never been mugged." Unfortunately, these people are sending their kids down the dark alley in front of them.

[RonF]

You are right about the different nature of the debates about including homosexuals vs. atheists. There are numerous people who maintain that "morally straight" and "homosexual" are not mutually exclusive, and there are religous denominations that back them up. However, I don't see how anyone can reconcile "Duty to God" and "A Scout is ... Reverent" with "atheist".

One complication that I fear from allowing "local option" (where a local unit would be as free to choose homosexuals as leaders as they now are to choose, say, abortion providers) is that local governments and organizations might then start harassing individual units that refuse to enroll homosexuals. The BSA would be able to use their SCOTUS (I keep typing SCOUTS) victories to fight that off, but it would consume time, money, and resources at the local level for a while.

[Imagine]

Can anyone post some "gay pride" parade pictures??? Perhaps from the San Francisco Castro Street. These are the guys that will be taking your little boy out on that weekend camping trip.

Question: What would any red-blooded American father do if one of these pervs. molested his child?

[RonF]

"It brings to mind the phrase, 'A liberal is just a conservative who has never been mugged.' Unfortunately, these people are sending their kids down the dark alley in front of them."

With the result at the end of that alley being what?

That their son is assualted? The BSA maintains that there is no link between homosexuality and sexual assault of children.

Or that their son is influenced to become homosexual? That's different. But there's no evidence either way, so these parents would have to work off of what they believe. As well as whether they believe that a homosexual son is a bad outcome. My guess would be that anyone who believes that this is a possibility (and I'm not maintaining a particular position on that) would keep their kid out of a unit with homosexual leaders.

[RonF]

What would any red-blooded American father be doing putting his son in a unit lead by people such as you describe?

What would any red-blooded American father be doing allowing the unit to select such leaders in the first place? Or would he be too lazy to serve on the Troop Committee, the group responsible for examining and approving unit leaders?

Or, finally, why would any red-blooded American father be too lazy to become a unit leader himself (or even just go on some of the campouts) and keeping an eye on the other leaders to make sure that Youth Protection policies that prevent youth molestation are being observed?

[RRWCC]

As you can probably tell by my lack of understanding about the hierarchy of the different Scouting groups, I did not have the opportunity to be a Scout myself. I had many friends who were and that sparked my interest in seeing if my children would be interested in Scouting. My daughter was just getting involved because a friend of hers invited her. She was only there a few months when I found out about the GSUSA (Thanks for the correction).

I have apparently falsely associated the two groups and I thank you for the correction. I was unaware of the difference in the way that the Boy Scouts are organized. I will check into it. I would love for my son to enjoy some of the stuff that I missed. Again, Thanks for the correction.

[nina0113]

Scouting was removed from my 3 daughters activities a few years ago when the "gay" agenda began to be pushed by the GSA.

Yep. We don't have any kids, so we just gave up buying the cookies. I miss Thin Mints terribly.

[RRWCC]

"we just gave up buying the cookies"

We did that too. I do miss the cookies.

[RRWCC]

None of my children would NEVER go on a campout without me (or my wife). However, just because someone doesn't become a unit leader doesn't mean that he is "too lazy".

because we are very involved in our Church I would not have the time left over to be a Unit leader and do the job correctly.

[RRWCC]

None would NEVER...

I mean EVER. Guess I need to proof-read a bit better!

[LiteKeeper]

From an old Boy Scout/Scoutmaster...thanks

[lurky]

These are the guys that will be taking your little boy out on that weekend camping trip.

Actually these are the guys that couldn't couldn't give a rat's ass about donating time to mentor young boys lest it get in the way of their busy social life. But don't let that get in the way of a good rant.